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Installation

Requirements

  • Python 3.10+
  • 64-bit OS: macOS, Linux or Windows
  • OpenGL (required for the VTK 3D view)

Install

git clone https://github.com/netstim/BrainDeer.git
cd BrainDeer
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate          # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -U pip
pip install -e .

Run:

brain-deer

Without cloning

pip install "git+https://github.com/netstim/BrainDeer.git" installs the latest default branch directly.

Optional extras

Extra Includes Install
dicom DICOM import (pydicom, dicom2nifti) pip install -e ".[dicom]"
bids Open BIDS datasets (pybids) pip install -e ".[bids]"
vr VR streaming (websockets) pip install -e ".[vr]"
quest Quest setup (QR code) pip install -e ".[quest]"
macos macOS bundle helpers pip install -e ".[macos]"
dev Ruff, Mypy, Pytest pip install -e ".[dev]"

Combine extras: pip install -e ".[dicom,bids]".

Platform notes

  • Linux: if you hit Qt platform plugin errors, a conda environment (conda-forge) for PyQt + VTK usually helps — mixing pip and system Qt can be fragile on Linux.
  • 3D stays black / GL errors: update GPU drivers; verify OpenGL works in other apps.

More issues? → Troubleshooting